BOX SCHEMES

Return too Direct Sales and Short Supply Chains contents page.

Box schemes provide customers with a pre-boxed or bagged mix of fresh, or in the case of meat, sometimes frozen, produce. They are generally run either by farmers and growers themselves, or by independent companies, cooperatives or community groups, which buy produce from a network of farms.

Different schemes offer customers different levels of choice over what they get in their boxes varying from a selection of produce picked by the producer or scheme operator based on what's in season, and/or the best value, to bespoke boxes in which customers select from a list of available produce. Typically, customers commit to a weekly or biweekly box on a monthly basis and can opt out at any time, but some operators offer one-off boxes.

Box schemes vary considerably, and can include all combinations of vegetables, fruit, eggs, meat, fish, dairy, and cupboard items. Boxes and bags can be collected from the farm, delivered to customers, couriered across the country, or delivered to community hubs or collection points at a certain day and time to be collected by customers.

The most widely used box scheme model is a range of options for weekly vegetables. Prices typically vary from £8 - £20 per box and will contain on average 5 – 15 items of seasonal veg each week. Box schemes are also widely used for meat, with customers getting a selection of cuts up to a certain value on a less regular basis.

As customers are generally not choosing the produce they receive many producers will put in recipes and lists of the produce in the box, as well as updates on the farm. This can help connect people to the farm, improving retention and increasing support, as well as make potentially unusual or unappealing produce more accessible.

Usually producers will want to keep their box scheme going year-round, and not lose customers in the hungry gap, as it can take a great deal of work to attract customers back. Those running box schemes often look to extend their season as much as possible, and to establish good relationships with other local producers for produce to buy in during their hungry gap. Some box schemes drop from providing a weekly box to one every fortnight in the hungry gap.

During the summer, when many box scheme customers are on holiday, or if there is surplus produce for other reasons, producers often look to sell it through other routes such as wholesale to other shops or schemes, or processing into other products. A few box schemes donate surplus to their local food bank and doing so can be a good way to get involved in developing schemes to support people experiencing household food insecurity to access fresh and healthy produce.

The advantage to growers and farmers of the weekly or fortnightly box is it provides a secure and regular income, and allows the creation of long-term customer relationships. Ashurst Organics in Sussex, for example, has had many of its customers throughout the 27 years it’s been operating a box scheme.

As with any new business development, there are a number of aspects of a box scheme that need to be researched and considered, for example: establishing whether there’s a market, and the characteristics of your market; deciding on collection or delivery (or both) and calculating the costs and time commitment this requires; working out the contents of your boxes, sale prices and profit margins; staffing and seasonal fluctuations in labour; deciding what packaging you’ll use; and deciding how much choice you will give customers and whether you’ll offer the option of adding other items to their boxes.

The Community Supported Agriculture Network provides an A–Z Guide to setting up a CSA, and although aimed at CSA schemes, it includes advice on business planning, establishing a market, working out quantities, distribution options, funding and more that are relevant to box and bag schemes.

If you want to find local producers to supplement your own produce, the Resources section lists directories of organic and local producers. There are also local and national produce wholesalers, including wholesalers who specialise in supplying home delivery box schemes, and specialist wholesalers providing meat, dairy, etc. (see Wholesalers section). Wherever possible we encourage creating relationships with other local producers to help fill gaps for produce.

Barcombe Nurseries has a short video illustrating the production of their vegetable boxes, from receiving orders to harvesting, box assembly, and distribution which can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEneDDrAFoE&feature=youtu.be

Advice from those running box schemes is that you start simple! It’s generally easier to add options and choice than to take them away, but finding a system that works for your needs before taking on what may be unnecessary admin, delivery driving or packing is important.

Advantages

 * Relatively secure and regular income and workflow across the year.
 * Allows the creation of long-term customer relationships and strong trust to develop.
 * In some cases packaging can be collected and reused.
 * Individual customers will be more forgiving of imperfect produce than wholesalers.
 * Relatively low overheads.
 * Can streamline harvesting and distribution into one or two days per week.

Disadvantages

 * Can require regular deliveries of small orders unless collected from the farm or dropped at ‘pick up points’.
 * Multiple customer accounts to manage, and potentially significant amounts of customer service required.
 * Need to produce or offer a wide range of crops / variety of products. This can involve storing large amounts of crops.
 * Fewer opportunities for ‘upselling’ and ‘cross-selling’ mean customers might be buying less produce than they would if they had a wider range of choice.
 * Time and logistics for packing boxes can be onerous.